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Tag Archives: the way I see it

At a different point in my life I subscribed to the notion of love as an irrevocable, external force—one which was beyond human control. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Most of society is somehow convinced of this at some point in our development: that when the time/person/universe was right, some mystical wave of emotion would sweep us off our feet and carry us off into the wonders of love. This is the metaphorical falling in love—it’s romantic, it’s fun, and it takes nearly zero effort on our part.

More recently, however, I’ve come to a few realizations which have caused me to reconsider my view of love and relationships. Primarily this refers to my new understanding of love as a personal, conscious choice. Think about it: it is much more meaningful to look at your current/future Significant Other, with all their flaws and shortcomings and habits and history, and to make a conscious decision that you still love them in spite of (or even because of) all of the aforementioned setbacks. This is the essence of loving willingly, rather than at the hands of some irreversible force akin to gravity. It is the act of choosing that empowers us to take control of life and stop waiting for it to take control of us.

Choose to love or choose not to love, but don’t you dare try to blame it on gravity.